When the UPS guy delivered this small box...I thought to myself..this it?.".Is that all there is"..from the Peggy Lee tune (1969)..

I opened the box and removed the contents...and I looked in the box again..did I forget something....this thing is small..

I placed it on a stand, and booted it up.....smoke began to pour out of it...just kidding, I wanted to see if you are paying attention..

Immediately, I could tell the sounds were reasonably good....some are very good...Piano, organ guitar were good...
choirs and ahhs sucked just like they do on the PA2x and PA800..

Styles are very good..for the most part ..Korg remains my favorite styles for swing, and jazz...unplugged are also good...

Although the sounds are decent and sound great thru a pa system (speakers are nothing to right home about...but nice to have, as monitors
in a quiet room..)...You can tell the detail sound you hear in the larger size samples are missing....32MB rom is a bit light in today's world..

After the first half hour of playing the small keys...my first thought was ..these keys are just too small...but knowing the keys were attached to some neat
features and sounds, made me a bit more open minded about the keys..

Some key facts..The Micro Arranger 61 keys measures 28 1/2"....My Roland G70 measures 33 1/2"..Yamaha will come in at 32 1/2"

As a matter of curiosity I measured my accordion...41 keys measured 19 5/8"...the same 41 key span on the Micro measured 19".
This surprised me, they seem smaller than the accordion..because of the length..

Korg included just about any edit features you need on this board..it is not a stripped down model...
I believe it is the same sound engine and features found not only on the PA50sd, but the popular PA1x too..

The Micro is ideal to keep handy in your car or near your door when you leave (never know when you may want to play)..

I wanted one to see if I could set it up and use it at rehearsals with my new partner...I am please to announce..
I have successfully..accomplished this...Not just styles I want to use , but SMF's too...I was able to edit and save parts/changes, and volumes...

The Operating system is just plain terrible, but usable (no where as efficient as the G70..but after you have the data edited and saved to the SD card,
you will get use to the procedures to gig..From what I can tell they didn't improve the PA3x that much when it comes to the OS.

I was going to use the A-33 controller with the Micro, but it did not seem practical..I would be much better to use the G70...(no comparison on any detail or sounds)..I already use the Korg styles I like , converted to G70..

The ideal use of the Micro, other than a ready to play anywhere keyboard...are nursing homes and other 1 hour gigs..The Micro Arranger and the Roland BA330 make a great combination for this type of job..

It took some time to get use to the key size (if you call conceding , getting use too)..I forced myself to play the Micro and a full size keyboard together..changing hands from large keys to small keys...You can adapt, but I do think if you only played the small keys, you will lose technique that you developed over the years...A well trained player will not be happy playing this board for long periods of time..

So overall, my first impression,,,is favorable....

It could be the perfect keyboard for the new fad..DJ/keyboardist/singer combination...